


Escape

by l10nelmessi



Category: Football RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-08
Updated: 2015-09-23
Packaged: 2018-04-19 16:59:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4754051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/l10nelmessi/pseuds/l10nelmessi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“You’re a blessing,” Leo tells him. “You’re the only thing worth staying here for.”</p><p>“You know it’s the same for me. You’re the only reason I’m still here.” He takes Leo’s hand in his and squeezes tight.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> written for a prompt on fbk2. my first angsty dystopian fic!! hope you like it. x

Neymar hears the knocks on the door, the secret pattern they’d come up with, and he jumps up to open it. As he unfastens the endless chains and undoes the deadbolts, he hears Leo’s voice outside. “Hurry up, Ney,” he says anxiously, and Neymar feels a flutter of panic in his chest. He finally yanks the door open and Leo hurries in.

“Is everything okay?” Neymar asks, and he guesses Leo senses the fear in his voice because he puts his hand on Neymar’s shoulder.

“Yeah, everything’s fine, I just wanted to get in before anyone came.” He watches Neymar lock the door again with the same frown on his face as he always does.

“Don’t worry, Leo,” Neymar soothes. He finishes with the door and turns, stepping closer to him and kissing him softly. “We’re okay.”

“I know.” Leo smiles up at him. “We’re safe here.”

They’d found this apartment ages ago. On the outskirts of the city, old and abandoned, it was kind of creepy, but that was exactly what they’d needed - a hiding place. Somewhere to feel safe, to know that they weren’t being watched. As an extra layer of security, they’d spraypainted the camera lenses in the entryway and the hallway leading to their room black, in case they were still being used. They doubted that they were. It was more of a precaution than anything - they couldn’t be too careful. 

Neymar’s seventeenth birthday was in February, so he’s already had his Talk. He still hasn’t told Leo why they have to take all these protective measures to be together. He can’t find it in his heart to hurt Leo like that. Someone else gets paid to do it - it’s not Neymar’s job to break Leo’s heart, but it's June already and he knows Leo’s birthday is coming up soon, so he can’t keep what he knows to himself forever. In the meantime, though, they hide and they don’t touch each other unless they’re behind closed (and chained, and bolted) doors. Leo, mercifully, doesn’t ask too many questions.

He pulls Leo over to the bare mattress on the ground. “I missed you,” he says, leaning in to kiss him, but Leo puts a hand on his chest.

"Neymar," he says quietly, and he looks at Leo curiously, Leo nods towards the open window. Neymar gets up reluctantly to pull the blinds across it.

“You still haven’t told me why,” Leo says. Neymar turns to face him in the half-darkness, goes back to the mattress and sits down next to him. He sighs.

“I know, just -”

“I don’t want to know, to be honest,” Leo laughs quietly. Neymar half-smiles at him. _No, you don’t,_ he thinks. Leo continues, “I’m just glad we can still do this, you know?”

Neymar leans back in, presses a kiss to his jawline. “I know,” he tells Leo. His hand wanders up Leo’s shirt and Leo smirks against his lips, presses his hand to the crotch of Neymar’s pants. “I really fucking missed you, Leo…”

“Me too, Ney, I couldn’t stop thinking about you after last time…” Neymar moans and Leo keeps whispering to him, encouraging him, urging him on, and Neymar feels like he’s come home after a long time away, and he hates that all this could be taken away from him so easily.

+

A week before Leo’s birthday, he gets a pamphlet in the mail. It tells him that it’s time to “transition fully into adulthood by joining a trained professional for an extended Talk about Physical Relations with Others”. Leo smirks. He’s getting his Talk.

Sure, he knows about it. Lots of people from school have already had the Talk. It happens on your seventeenth birthday, and no one talks to you about it before or after. Leo doesn’t know why. He knows that Neymar has had his, but he’d come back from it all broody and angry so Leo doesn’t really talk about it too much, figures his Doctor was just an asshole or something. He’d tried persuading his brothers to tell him what the Doctor told them, but Matias and Rodrigo wouldn’t say a word about it, so Leo still doesn’t know the finer details, but he gets the general idea.

What they don’t know, these ‘trained professionals’ - Leo thinks of them as sort of sex therapists - is that he’s already pretty experienced in this field. He really doesn’t know what they would tell him that he wouldn’t already know. In fact, he’s feeling kind of confident about his Talk. He’s sort of excited for it. He can’t wait to laugh with Neymar about it later.

+

Sitting in the waiting room at the Young Adult Clinic, he takes a look around. There are two other people with him, and he assumes that it’s their birthday, too. One of them, a girl with brown skin and long, wavy black hair, is biting her lip and reading the same pamphlet that Leo had gotten in the mail. The other, a blonde boy with green eyes, is dressed strangely formally (Leo guesses his parents made a big deal out of this) and is staring at the ceiling, bouncing his leg a little out of nerves. 

Leo can’t help but smirk and lean back comfortably in his seat. He feels a little sorry for them, so clearly nervous, but at the same time he wants to laugh because really, what’s there to be nervous about? It’s just sex, after all. He doesn’t understand why everyone always makes such a huge deal out of it.

“Messi, Lionel?”

He sits up at the sound of his name, getting out of his seat and walking towards an attractive woman holding a clipboard. His shoulders are loose and his walk is relaxed. The boy and the girl give him sympathetic looks and he feels like laughing again. He follows the pretty nurse down a hallway and to the right, where she lets him into a spacious room. A man is sitting on one of the three comfortable-looking leather couches gathered around a coffee table. The nurse indicates that Leo should join him.

“Hello, Lionel,” the man says, looking up at him and smiling a little. “Happy birthday. I’m Doctor Luis Enrique, I’ve been assigned to give you your Talk. Now, I’m sure you’ve heard at least something about it, but if you have any questions, feel free to ask. Would you like something to drink? Water, juice, pop…?”

“I’m fine, thanks.”

“Okay. Now, you might not know some of this stuff, so I’ll go slow. But if you do happen to know anything about what I’m going to tell you, please let me know, and tell me where you learned it from. It just helps us get a better idea of how your age group is growing up these days.”

He suddenly hears Neymar’s voice in his head, a memory from a few days ago. _Act like you don’t know anything, Leo,_ he’d said. _They’ll use it against you if you say anything. It’s a trap, don’t fall for it._ Leo clenches his jaw, not as comfortable as he thought he would be. He nods and Dr Enrique keeps talking.

He sits through about ten agonizingly boring minutes of introduction. He’s not even listening to any of it, just nods at the right moments to keep Dr Enrique talking, but then he hears something that catches his attention.

“...This is something that only happens after marriage, of course, because the only reason for any kind of sexual encounter is procreation, you understand? You and your wife may have sexual relations only to procreate - to have babies. Now, when she -”

“Excuse me, sir?” Leo interrupts, but Dr Enrique doesn’t seem to mind. He raises an eyebrow as if to say ‘go on’, so Leo does. “When you talk about getting married - it has to be with a woman?”

“Of course,” Dr Enrique says without hesitating. “There is no reason why a man and a man - or two women, for that matter - should need to marry. They cannot reproduce together.”

 _I have to marry a woman?_ Leo thinks, a pit of dread forming in his stomach. Sure, he doesn’t see any same-sex couples around here, but...he’d thought, or rather he’d hoped, that it was just coincidence. He doesn’t ask the question, though, because it would seem too obvious, so he asks another one instead. “Is reproduction the only reason for marriage?”

“I don’t see any other reason.”

“What if you, I don’t know...you really like that person?”

“Well then, by all means marry her, but you may not have sexual relations with her unless you wish to reproduce, in which case you must fill out the proper paperwork before having said relations.”

“But...hypothetically, what would happen if, say, two men were to get married?”

“That is against the law,” Dr Enrique says, studying Leo carefully. Leo looks him in the eyes, unafraid, yet unwilling to show him how hurt he is on the inside. “Those who engage in such activities receive a very long sentence in prison.”

“But...why?” Leo can’t help but ask, “why do you punish people like that?”

“Look, Lionel.” Dr Enrique leans forward so that his elbows are on his knees, his hands propping up his chin. “Having sexual relations with another person is wrong. It should not happen unless it is necessary.”

“But two people of the same gender - what if they don’t have sex? What if they just, I don’t know, live together?”

“It is inevitable,” says Dr Enrique indifferently. “The human body has needs that must be fulfilled. Either they will engage in relations with one another, or find someone else outside of the marriage to do it with. Both of these options are punishable by order of the law.”

Leo fights the urge to say anything else. He realises that he’s probably already said too much, but he can’t stop thinking about Neymar. So this is why they had to hide all the time now, this is why they couldn’t so much as call each other outside of their little sanctuary - they could be severely punished for it. Leo wonders for an angry moment why Neymar hadn’t told him earlier.

Dr Enrique continues with the Talk, but Leo tunes out again. His heart is racing and he feels like he’s going to throw up, or cry, or both. He needs to talk to Neymar right now, to feel him close, needs Neymar to tell him that what they’re doing isn’t really wrong. When they finish, Leo almost runs out of the room. He doesn’t make eye contact with the boy or the girl waiting for their turn.

He walks out into the afternoon, cool for June, and fights the tears forming in his eyes. He takes out of his pocket a pen and notepad he’d stolen from the Clinic while he was waiting, their logo embossed at the top of the paper, and he writes a quick note to Neymar. He knows he’s going to go by Neymar’s house as he walks, and he knows that Neymar always keeps his window open a crack so that Leo can slip in paper. Leo does this with his window, too - that’s how they manage to communicate how and when they want to meet up. They destroy the notes after they’ve read them.

Leo stops at Neymar’s house, creeps silently to the left side, the side with Neymar’s window on it. Sure enough, it’s open just a crack - and he finds Neymar sitting at his desk doing schoolwork. Leo taps on the window, their secret rhythm, and Neymar’s head snaps up. He comes over to the window and Leo passes him the message.

_give me the key let’s go_

Neymar nods and takes a silver key out of this pocket. He slides it through the small space under the window. They only have one key, and they take turns holding it - Leo isn’t really sure why, but it seems like a good idea to him. Leo turns to leave, because they don’t want to be seen going together. Leo’s mind is still racing from his appointment and he walks quickly and purposefully towards their apartment. He gets there fifteen minutes or so before Neymar does, and he lets him in before he’s even finished knocking. The first thing he does is pull Neymar into a tight hug.

“Happy birthday,” Neymar whispers sadly, stroking his hair. Leo has to fight back tears again.

“I had my Talk just now,” he chokes out, and Neymar just keeps running his hand over his hair soothingly. Leo steps back a little, to face him. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I didn’t want to be the one to hurt you like this,” Neymar admits, “I was being selfish. I should have told you but...I wanted to protect you.”

“I can’t believe it,” Leo mumbles. He walks over to the window and closes the blinds, makes sure to fasten them tight this time.

“I’m sorry, Leo. Really, I am.”

“It’s not even your fault,” Leo says quietly. “God, I hate this place.”

Neymar takes his hand and pulls him gently towards the mattress. They sit down and Neymar pulls his backpack off his shoulders.

“I bought you a gift,” Neymar says. He puts his fingers under Leo’s chin and lifts his face to meet his eyes. “Please don’t be upset, Leo.”

Leo doesn’t say anything, just leans in and kisses him. “I love you.”

“Love you, too. Don’t you want your gift?”

“You really shouldn’t have,” Leo mutters, and Neymar rolls his eyes.

He hands him the carefully wrapped package. Leo says that it’s so pretty he doesn’t want to open it, and Neymar shoves his shoulder and tells him to hurry up and just do it already. Inside, Leo finds a bunch of sour candy (his favourite), a gently used copy of _The Catcher in the Rye_ by J. D. Salinger, and a wallet-sized class photo.

Leo grins as he picks up the picture. It had been taken outside, after the school had one of their football matches. Their whole class had gone up and stood on the bleachers for it. Leo and Neymar had joked that they were always in the first row for photos, since they were so short, so their classmates let them go up and stand in the middle of the top row for a change. Because the second row of students was blocking it, no one knew that they were holding hands as the picture was taken.

“This is amazing,” he says, still holding the picture, running his fingers over the cover of the book. This particular book has been banned in most places and is extremely hard to find. “Really, Ney, thank you so much, this made my day...where did you even find this?”

“Dani knows a guy. I’m just happy you like it,” Neymar says, kissing his cheek. “You’ll like _Catcher._ Holden, the main character, is a bit like us. An outsider.”

Leo places everything in his own bag, making sure to hide the book well. Then he turns to Neymar and kisses him, properly, and he knows that this is what he needs. Just knowing that Neymar’s here, that he’s not going anywhere, brings him the kind of happiness that he knows will keep him going for days.

“You’re a blessing,” Leo tells him. “You’re the only thing worth staying here for.”

“You know it’s the same for me. You’re the only reason I’m still here.” He takes Leo’s hand in his and squeezes tight.

“You have no idea how much I’ve daydreamed about, like...running away with you, and stupid shit like that. I just want to get out of here.”

“I know, I do too. That’s why I think you’ll like _Catcher_ so much, though. Just read it. And I’ll keep getting books for you, and we’ll read them together. That way, we can escape without having to run away.” Leo just looks at him for a while, feels his thumb rubbing against his.

“You’re the best person I’ve ever met in my life, you know that?” Neymar laughs and Leo can’t even describe what he feels at that moment - love isn’t a strong enough word for how he feels for Neymar. “I really, really love you. I don’t give a fuck about the law.”

“Me neither. One day, we won’t have to do this,” Neymar says, gesturing around the empty, abandoned room, “I promise.”

Leo leans his head on Neymar’s shoulder. “Can we cuddle and take a nap now?”

Neymar laughs. “You’re like a five-year-old.”

Leo rolls his eyes and they reposition themselves so they’re laying down, Leo’s back pressed to Neymar’s chest, Neymar’s arm around him, holding his hand. Neymar kisses the back of Leo’s neck until he falls asleep, both wishing it could be like this forever.

+

They go to school, they play football, they do their chores at home. It all seems so normal from the outside looking in, but Neymar can't help but feel a heavy weight in his chest. The only times he ever feels truly happy are the stolen moments spent with Leo in private, and those are becoming rarer and rarer because they don't want to get caught.

When they can be together, though, they read. Neymar has managed to smuggle in a couple more books for Leo, and he reads them out loud with Leo's head resting on his shoulder. Leo never falls asleep while Neymar is reading to him, always alert and paying attention, and Neymar didn't know that Leo liked books this much until now. When he asks Leo about it, he just says, "they're not just any books, Ney. They're important." Neymar guesses he's right. They look up to the main characters of the books they read, dream of one day being as brave as they are. Neymar has to admit, the books are sort of inspiring, a glimmer of hope in the colourless world they live in.

It's not just reading they do when they're safely locked into their apartment, though. They fuck. A lot. They can't help it, and Neymar certainly doesn't feel any need to change that fact when he looks down and sees Leo between his legs, looking up at him. Neymar whimpers when Leo presses his lips to the inside of his thigh.

Leo moves up so that he's pressed right against Neymar, chest to chest, legs tangled together. Leo rocks his hips onto him, steadily grinding on him, watching the effect it has on both of their bodies. Neymar loves this slow buildup and he kisses him, threads his fingers through Leo's soft brown hair, and Leo kisses back, softly. "I love you," he whispers into Neymar's mouth.

"I love you, too." He looks up at Leo, touches the tips of his fingers to his cheek. "Thank you, by the way." 

"For what?" Leo asks him, kissing his neck. Neymar turns his head to give him better access, more skin to cover with his lips.

"For everything," he says, running his hands up and down Leo's back. "For being here right now, when I need you. For loving me."

Leo kisses up to his ear and whispers, "you know I need you just as badly, Ney. And I'll never stop loving you."

+

"They know."

Leo whispers it to him suddenly, out of the corner of his mouth, during one of the breaks that their coach gives them at football practice. Neymar is filling up his water bottle and Leo stands behind him, and when he says that, Neymar's heart stops.

"How do you know?" He whispers back.

"Because," Leo says, taking Neymar's place and filling his own bottle, "they replaced the cameras."

Neymar knows he means the ones in the apartment, and he feels nauseous all of a sudden, the world reeling around him. Leo puts a hand on his shoulder and leads him to a set of benches on the side of the pitch. They sit down, about a foot away from each other, but not far enough that Leo can't hear him.

"Do you know when?"

"No, but they can't have seen us, can they? They would've done something by now," Leo mumbles, balancing a ball on his foot. "I went back to get the football, the one I brought last time, because I forgot it in there. But then I saw the new cameras and I just ran, fuck the ball."

Neymar nods. Leo had just finished practice last time and he didn't feel like going home to put the ball away, so he brang it with him, and he and Neymar had practiced juggling it between them. It hadn't touched the ground once.

"We need to be careful," Neymar tells him.

"I know. And we need to find a new place."

"No, we don't," he says, and Leo looks at him, confused. The ball he's been balancing for so long slips off his foot. "Didn't you hear me just now? We need to be _careful,_ Leo. I don't think we should meet up anymore. They know, they're going to look for anything they can to catch us."

"But..." Leo says. His voice is almost inaudible, and Neymar wants so badly to lean in, to kiss him a thousand times and apologise, but - "we can't see each other anymore?"

"We'll see each other here, I guess -"

"That's not enough!" Leo whispers, turning to Neymar. There are tears in his eyes. "Look," he says, casting his eyes down at the bench, at the space between them. "I can't even sit next to you here, I can't look at you the wrong way or I'll be - I don't even know what they'd do. This is nowhere near enough." He wipes away his tears frustratedly. "And I don't even know why I'm crying," he mumbles. Neymar smiles - it's such a typical Leo thing to do.

"I'm sorry I can't give you more," he says quietly. He stretches out his leg and scoops the ball closer to him, rolls it under his foot. "I want to, trust me. You deserve it. _We_ deserve it. But...I don't know what to do. I'm scared."

"Me, too."

Neymar instinctively goes to hold Leo's hand, but as soon as his fingers brush Leo's, Leo jumps back as if he's been burnt. Neymar does the same, feeling stupid. "Sorry, Leo, I - I wasn't thinking."

"It's okay," Leo says, looking around to make sure no one was watching. Then, the coach blows the whistle to get back to practice, and they walk slowly back to the group, standing as far away from each other as they can.

+

_found a new place, come asap, i'm waiting 4 you there_

Neymar picks up the note. Under this message in Leo's usual scribbly writing is a set of directions. He feels a nervous squirming in his stomach, a deep, uneasy feeling - he'd already told Leo not to...but if he's waiting, Neymar might as well go and talk him into coming back home.

He follows the directions on the paper, and they lead him to a building not unlike the one they'd inhabited before. It's a broken-down old house, the windows boarded up, no cameras this time. Neymar takes a deep breath before he pushes the old, creaking door open.

"Leo?" He calls out softly. He walks further into the darkness, calling for him again. "Leo..."

"Not quite," says a deep voice from somewhere in the shadows behind him.

He feels a sharp blow to his head. Then he feels nothing.

+

Leo wakes up in a room he's never seen before, a room quite unlike the one he'd been in earlier, before he fell asleep. Did he fall asleep? He's not sure...

He tries to remember. Neymar...he'd left Leo a note, but when he got there, Neymar had been sprawled on the floor, and when Leo went to go help him...he'd fallen asleep? No, no, that's wrong, it hadn't been sleep...

Then he remembers. He jerks his head up, his eyes wide open.

The room has gray walls. The table and two chairs present in the room are bolted to the floor. There is something large that Leo guesses is a two-way mirror on the wall, but it's covered by some blinds. He knows where he is now. He's going to be interrogated.

He's chained to one of the chairs. His head is throbbing from where he'd been hit. He can feel the handcuffs on his wrists where they lay behind his back. His ankles are also cuffed together, although he doesn't realise it at first, because his legs have gone numb. How tight are these chains? How long has he been here?

The note...it had been in Neymar's writing. He hadn't been forced to write it, had he? Of course, they could have just studied his writing from his schoolwork, learned to copy it...but Leo should have realised that something was wrong...Neymar doesn't draw his 4's like that...

A door that Leo hadn't noticed before opens and a tall man walks in. He has brown hair flecked with gray, smile lines around his light brown eyes which, instead of looking warm and friendly, look cold and dead to Leo. He wears wire-rimmed glasses and a button-down shirt tucked into some jeans. He looks incredibly average, doesn't look like a policeman at all, and Leo wonders who he is and what he's doing here.

"Hello, Lionel." Leo feels a rush of anger as the man smiles down at him. "Have you just woken up?"

Leo says nothing. The man sits on the edge of the table, near Leo. He keeps smiling and it's terrifying, and Leo just wants Neymar back. He resolves not to say anything, in case it might hurt one of them.

"If you are cooperative, you'll be fine," the man continues. "I'm Mr. Hunt, I'm here to help you." Leo still says nothing and Hunt keeps smiling maddeningly at him. "In time, you will tell us everything. We both know this. There will come a time where you lose your mind and you will be willing to do anything for him. That time may be now, who knows." Leo's stomach drops. He's so scared but he can't show it, so instead he glares defiantly at Hunt, who chuckles and straightens his glasses, standing up and going over to the mirror, covered by blackout blinds.

"How about we test my theory?" He asks softly. He pulls up the blinds.

It's not a mirror, after all, but a regular window, and through it he can clearly see -

"Neymar," he whispers, despite himself. 

They've got him in the same position as Leo, tied up and helpless, and when Neymar looks over and sees Leo he struggles hard against his chains. Leo is shaking as he watches him, can faintly hear him screaming at whoever's in the room with him - Leo supposes these rooms are soundproofed. Then a guard comes from where he was standing out of Leo's range of vision. He stands threateningly close to Neymar, bending so that he's on eye level, inches away from him. He says something, quietly.

Neymar spits in his face. Leo wants to cry.

"Bad move," Hunt comments, as if he's watching a football match. Leo wants to hurt him in fifty different ways, but before he can open his mouth, the guard standing with Neymar hits him so hard across the face that he sees blood spraying out of Neymar's mouth and nose. Neymar just straightens up again and keeps yelling, looking angry and determined, blood running down his face. Leo wants to tell him to stop but he can't, so he watches as the blows keep coming and coming, watches Neymar's blood stain his clothes, listens to Hunt's horrible, ruthless commentary.

"They'll bring in electricity next," he says, and Leo finally speaks up.

"Let him go, please, I - just let him go."

"Oh?" He knocks on the window, signalling the guard to stop. Leo watches Neymar, tears and blood pouring down his face, quiet now but breathing hard, looking over at Leo. Hunt continues. "Will you cooperate, then?"

"You already know everything," Leo says, his voice shaking, "I don't see why you need us. Please, let him go and - and keep me. Just leave him alone."

"Touching," Hunt says sarcastically, "but seeing as you both committed the crime, I see no reason to let either of you go."

"Then stop hurting him," Leo says quietly. He looks over again, and Neymar mouths, _I'm sorry_. Leo shakes his head.

"Let me guess - hurt you instead? As entertaining as that would be, it may not be necessary, if you tell us what we want to know."

"And what would that be?" Leo looks up at Hunt, genuinely curious.

"Why do you do it?" Hunt asks quietly, resuming his perch on the table.

"Do what?"

"Why do you choose to purposely disobey the law by committing such a horrendous crime?"

Leo feels like he's been slapped in the face. "I didn't choose this," he says, glaring up at him, hatred rising like poison inside him. "I...I love him."

"That is a lie," Hunt says flatly. "A man cannot love another man. It is the law."

"I can't help it," Leo says, and he feels like his throat is closing up. "I don't choose to be this way, I just...am. I can't-"

"You're lying!" Hunt yells suddenly, lunging at him. He hits Leo round the face, just like the guard had hit Neymar, and Leo cries out. Hunt laughs. "You're lying and you know it." He walks over to the window and knocks again, forcing Leo to watch as the guard continues to torture Neymar. He can hear him screaming and Leo fights against the chains tying him down, shouts at Hunt, begs him to make it stop.

"Stop lying and we'll stop!"

"I'm not lying!" Leo roars, "leave him alone! Don't touch him!"

Hunt knocks on the window again, and the guard stops. He watches Leo with a curious expression. Leo is breathless from screaming, but he manages to say, "if you don't believe that I love him, why are you making me watch him get hurt? Why are you using that to try and break me, instead of something else?"

Hunt stares at him curiously for a while. Then he leaves the room, and the guard leaves Neymar, and Leo looks at Neymar through the window. He can't fight the tears streaming down his face now. Neymar doesn't move. Leo watches as blood drips from his mouth onto the cold gray floor.

+

Then, suddenly, for no reason at all, they untie Leo and they let him go to Neymar. They even uncuff his hands and legs. They let him into the room where they're keeping Neymar and they close the door behind him.

He looks a mess. There is blood sprayed all over the ground around the chair where Neymar is tied up. Leo fears the worst, but sees his chest rising and falling and he breathes a shaky sigh of relief.

"Ney?" He says quietly, walking over to him. Neymar doesn't stir. Leo goes over and, lightly as he can, brushes his blood-matted hair away from his face. Neymar jumps violently.

"Don't fucking touch me," he spits, and Leo steps back immediately, deeply hurt. But then Neymar looks up and recognises him, and his bruised-up eyes fill up with tears and he says, "oh, Leo, I thought you were - I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, this is all my fault - why did they let you go?"

Leo kneels in front of him, uncomfortably aware that his pants will be stained with blood after this, but he doesn't mind too much right now. He reaches up and brushes his fingers against the handprints on his face. "This isn't either of our fault," he whispers. "You know that. If anything, I'm the one who's sorry. I never meant for this to -"

"I know, Leo, I know. How did they let you go?"

"No idea," Leo admits. "But I'm glad they let me see you." He wipes a tear from Neymar's cheek. "I'm sorry they hurt you like this."

"Me, too," Neymar says, half-smiling. "I was so pretty, now I'm all bruised up and covered in blood. What a shame."

And that - Leo doesn't know why, but it has him in tears, because after all this, everything that they've just gone through, Neymar's still strong enough to try and make Leo laugh, to make jokes. They haven't killed his spirit.

"Don't cry, Leo, please," Neymar says quietly. Leo looks up at him and nods. 

"I'm trying to be strong, Ney. I don't know what to do."

"Me, neither. But they'll get bored of this eventually." Leo doubts it, and he doesn't know what to say, so he stays silent. "Come here," Neymar whispers, jerking his head up. Leo stands, runs his hand along Neymar's hair. He tilts his chin up to look at Leo, and he asks, "can you kiss me?"

And Leo figures, fuck it, why not. Sure, there are cameras, sure, there are microphones - but in the end, they already know, and Leo doesn't know when he's going to see Neymar after this, and they both need it. So Leo leans down and kisses him, gently presses his lips to Neymar's, feels his breath against his face and he's taken back to all the times they've kissed before, and it's like each memory gives him immeasurable strength.

Neymar leans up a bit more and Leo understands, so he deepens the kiss. He tastes blood and it's overwhelming but he doesn't care. He gently runs the fingers of one hand across Neymar's battered cheek, the other reaching back behind the seat to grab one of his hands.

There's footsteps and yelling in the hallway, and Leo's heart is stabbed with fear. He pulls away, takes Neymar's face in both his hands.

"I love you, Ney, don't forget that," Leo tells him, foreheads pressed together, urgent and terrified.

"Leo," Neymar says quietly, "what do you think has been keeping me going?"

The door bangs open and a large, strong man yanks Leo's arms behind his back and begins cuffing him. "Wait - please, just a little more time - can't you keep me here?" But the man just laughs. Leo fights against him because he wants to stay, they can't take him away now, and he kicks and yells and struggles but he is a skinny seventeen year old boy and rather easy to overpower. The man grabs him by the hair and starts dragging him out.

"Leo, I love you, I -" but before Neymar can say anything else another faceless guard backhands him across the face and the metal door slams shut.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for all the positive feedback!! Im soo sorry this took me so long, ive just started school again and its absolutely ridiculous. But thank you guys once again, youve been so great and encouraging!

They put him in a uniform and throw him in a cell after that. He doesn't know what they're doing with Neymar. They don't let him out of his cell unless it's to hurt him. They don't ask questions anymore - Leo assumes they've accepted the fact that he really does love Neymar, and now they're punishing him for it. Deep cuts run up his arms and chest, a gash across his cheek, bruises peppering his body. He wonders if Neymar would even recognise him now.

For the most part, he's stuck in the cell, alone. The only company he has is the guard outside, which he doesn't really see as a good thing. The guard is tall, with light brown hair and startlingly blue eyes. He doesn't look too scary but Leo knows what kind of monsters they keep in here, so he says nothing to him.

So when the guard wakes him up in the middle of the night by hitting the bars with his baton, Leo is kind of scared. Very scared, actually - prison is not a good place for boys his age.

"What the fuck do you want?" He asks, trying to sound braver than he feels.

"I know what they're doing with your boyfriend, dumbass."

"What?" Leo whispers, sitting up in bed. It's so dark he can barely see him at all. "How do you know?"

"I've been here a lot longer than you have," he mumbles. "He's in a cell like this one, on the other side of the building."

"How do I know I can trust you?" Leo asks skeptically. He works for them, after all - how is he supposed to believe him?

Without hesitating, the guard says, " _'The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.'_ J.D. Salinger."

"You've read _Catcher?_ " Leo asks, slightly impressed.

The guard laughs quietly. Leo sees him shake his head in the dark. "I'm the one who told Dani where to get the book for your boyfriend in the first place," he says. Leo grins.

"So you know Dani, too. Hold on - you can communicate in and out of this place?"

"Yeah."

"How?"

The guard shrugs. "Dani knows a guy." Leo begins to wonder if Dani knows a guy for everything.

"Does he know a guy who could get us out of here?" He asks, half-joking.

"Funny you should ask..."

 

\+ 

 

The plan is complicated and it takes a full month to think through. Leo likes it that way, though. As anxious as it makes him, being here and not seeing Neymar at all, the possibility of them being free makes it all worth it.

The guard's name is Gerard, and as it turns out, he's been sneaking people out of this place for as long as he's been working here. They had locked him up when he was nineteen for the same so-called "crime" that Leo and Neymar had been put in for. They'd beaten him until they thought they'd broken his will, but Gerard had a plan all along - comply for now, get revenge later. So he'd told them he'd seen the error of his ways and was sworn in as part of law enforcement, and that's how he ended up at the prison, silently helping those without a voice, those innocent people kept here for non-existent crimes.

Gerard is a master of diversion. Leo imagines he was probably the biggest prankster alive before he ended up here. He has a number of distractions ready, including a ferret that Gerard claims he'd "just found and decided to keep" (although where he keeps it, Leo doesn't want to know). He also has a talent for picking locks, which comes in extremely handy. Leo can't believe his luck.

"But, Ger...if you're so good at this stuff, why don't you get out of here? Run away?" He asks him one night.

Gerard sighs from where he's sitting outside the bars of Leo's cell. "I have nothing out there," he says finally. "No family, no friends..." He trails off and Leo wants to ask him, but Gerard says it for him. "And...they killed him. The guy I...they killed him in front of me. I was twenty. So now, I have nothing."

Leo is absolutely speechless, frightened beyond anything he's ever felt before, and all he can manage is, "I'm so sorry."

"Don't apologise. I just want to get you out of here," Gerard mumbles. Leo hears him shift outside. "You...you two deserve that."

+

He's been here for six months now and Neymar still struggles to sleep at night. He doesn't know where Leo is, what they're doing to him. He shifts his bruised body on his hard mattress to try to find even a remotely comfortable position, and fails miserably. He sits up instead, his back against the wall in his tiny cell, alone.

He thinks back to their time at the apartment, the memories being the only thing keeping him sane in this place. He closes his eyes and thinks of Leo. Everything about him, his smile and his laugh and the smell of him, the way he looks when they're both naked and Neymar is underneath him, feeling happy and safe, feeling complete. He thinks of every single time, from the first to the last, Leo has told him that he loves him. He goes over every touch, every kiss in his mind, wishing that he could go back and see him one more time...

_"Ney?"_

_"Yeah?"_

_Neymar grins as Leo presses a kiss to his bare chest. The little sunlight that manages to filter in through the black curtain warms up the room. Leo plays with a belt loop on the waistband of Neymar's jeans._

_"Your hair looks really stupid like that," Leo says finally, laughing halfway through the sentence, and Neymar pushes him away playfully._

_"Get off me, you jealous loser."_

_"Jealous of what? Your dumb haircut? No thanks." Leo laughs as he tries to climb back over Neymar's body. Neymar shoves him but no matter how hard he pushes, Leo comes back laughing, ready to try again. When Neymar finally lets him, Leo straddles his waist and leans down to kiss Neymar, their fingers intertwined._

_"It really does look like you stapled a squirrel to your head," Leo whispers, leaning his forehead against Neymar's, who bursts out laughing. Leo grins and shakes his head. "It suits you, though," he adds._

_"Oh yeah?" Neymar tilts his face up to kiss him, and Leo nods as he presses his lips to Neymar's._

_"Yeah. You always look good." Leo runs his hands down Neymar's chest, kisses his neck._

_"You're beautiful," Neymar says, and he meant to keep that in his head but it tumbles clumsily from his lips before he can stop it. Leo just laughs and shakes his head. He kisses Neymar again, tugging on his bottom lip a little as he pulls away._

_"Love you, Ney."_

_"I love you, Leo..."_

Leo...

"Leo?"

"What?" Says an unfamiliar voice, and Neymar jerks awake to see the guard outside his cell leering at him. "Still dreaming about him, huh?"

"N-no, I-"

"Save it," he snarls, "you're coming with me."

Neymar stands up, ready to fight as the guard unlocks his cell - they can't possibly think that he can control his dreams, and they can't possibly hope to stop them? But as hard as he tries to fight, the muscular guard overpowers him, and he's taken, kicking and screaming, into a room he's all too familiar with.

+

He wakes up but he doesn't open his eyes - he's too exhausted, and he already knows where he is. He's been through this before. Just as he thinks this, the pain starts to kick in. He feels his whole left leg throbbing, electrical burns seared into his skin. He feels blood drip from his hairline down to his cheekbone, and feels tears he wasn't even aware of crying running down his face. His throat is raw and sore from screaming.

This is where they put him after they torture him. They throw him in a room basically made of cells lined up one next to the other, without the concrete barrier between them, so you can see how badly everyone else is injured, too. Neymar knows it's a scare tactic, but still. Every part of his body aches. Even his teeth hurt from the electrocution. He has no idea what he did to deserve this but he can't even find the energy to be angry...he's just sad. He just wants to be with Leo, in his arms again...

"Neymar?"

He's so exhausted, he can hear Leo's voice again. He wonders if he's losing conciousness...

"Neymar!"

Then, like a bolt of lightning, it hits him. The voice - it's real, he's not imagining things-

He opens his eyes and he almost shouts out.

Leo is crouched in the cell next to his, thinner than ever, cuts and bruises on his arms and neck. He beckons to Neymar through the bars and Neymar gathers all his strength and crawls to him, reaches through and touches his lips and Leo kisses the tips of his fingers.

Then he remembers where he is; he looks around the room. They're the only two prisoners. Apart from them, there is a tall, lean guard, different from the one that had brought him here. He isn't looking at them, although Neymar's pretty sure he must have heard Leo speaking. He turns to Leo, confused, but Leo shakes his head.

"He's good. He's gonna help us get out of here."

"You trust him?" Neymar hisses. "Leo, how could you?"

"He's not like them," Leo whispers back, "he's like us. He's different. I'll tell you everything later, right now we have to get out of here. Can you walk?"

"I - I think so..."

"Try standing."

Neymar looks at Leo, at the blood smeared across his face and arms and - Neymar's stomach drops - the cuts running along his throat. He takes Leo in for the first time in months. They'd electrocuted him, too, and burned him with something - Leo winces when Neymar brushes his fingertips against the wounds. They'd hurt him so badly and Neymar hates them for it, hates himself - but when he looks into Leo's eyes, all he sees is courage and defiance and love and _Leo,_ there like he's always been, and Neymar feels it physically strengthening him, filling him up with bravery.

Leo breaks the silence and says, "I'm here. Come on, lean on me and I'll help you up."

"They fucked up my leg, it hurts when I put pressure on it..."

"I'll help you. Grab my hand."

Neymar grips his hand through the bars of the cell. Leo stands slowly, patiently, rises with Neymar, supports him. Neymar finds that his leg doesn't hurt too badly, it's kind of numb now, and he figures that if it means getting out of here, he'd gladly run on it.

When they're both fully standing, Neymar looks over at the guard and finds him staring at them. He has ridiculously blue eyes, and Neymar jumps back, afraid - but Leo shakes his head and tightens his grip silently through the bars. Neymar holds his hand and waits with bated breath as the guy unlocks the cell door for him, which swings silently forward.

"Go," he says. Neymar doesn't move. "Come on." The guard rolls his eyes. "I'm not gonna do anything."

"I don't trust you," Neymar says, trying to raise himself to his full height despite the fact that he can't stand properly and that the man is about the size of him and Leo put together. "It's probably a trap, I'm not gonna fall for it."

"Fine," the guard says, "you wanna die in here, it's your call."

"Neymar, please," Leo says. Neymar looks at him and sees sincerity in his eyes. "He's good. I told you."

"He works for them, Leo, if you think I'm gonna be so fucking naïve as to believe everything he says-"

"Do you trust me?"

"What?"

"Don't you trust me, Ney?"

Neymar softens at once. "Why would you even ask me that? Of course I do."

"Then please, just listen to him. He's been helping me and he wants to help you, too. Please, Ney. We don't have much time."

"What's his name?" Neymar says, jerking his chin towards the guard, who speaks up.

"Gerard. Now are we going to hurry the fuck up or are we gonna sit here and have a fucking picnic?"

"Fine," Neymar grumbles, and he limps as quickly as he can out of the cell. Leo walks a little more gracefully, and they tiptoe across the room behind Gerard.

"Geri," he hears Leo whisper when they reach the bolted door, "come with us, please just come, we're your friends! You have us!"

"Leo...look, I can get out whenever. I'm just not ready yet. You go, come on."

Leo considers him for a moment, then leans up and kisses him on the cheek. He pulls Neymar forward and takes two glossy peices of paper from Gerard. "I'll never forget this," he whispers.

"Go, quickly," Gerard tells him, and Neymar silently agrees, feeling much more rushed now, adrenaline coursing through him. Gerard opens the door for them. "I did it earlier, by the way, so they're all there," he says to Leo, who nods. Before Neymar can even begin to think about what this might mean, Leo's grabbed his hand and they start off into the darkness.

Leo hurries him down a corridor, then another one, and another until finally they're standing at a large window looking out into the night. A black car is parked below. Leo looks at him as the sound of shouting guards echoes from somewhere closeby - they're yelling about rats, or ferrets, but Neymar doesn't know which.

"Come on, we have to jump," he says. Neymar is kind of terrified about the height, and he doesn't know if his leg can take the impact, but Leo says, "I know, but we'll jump together, just - come on, hurry," and Neymar doesn't need telling twice. They get onto the ledge, Leo unlocks the window, and they're standing on the windowsill, cool air caressing their faces.

"Ready?"

"Ready."

"Go!"

They fall for what seems like ages, Neymar holding onto Leo's hand for dear life, and they finally land in the tall grass with a thud that hurts Neymar's ankles so much they feel like they're broken, but he has no time for that now. Leo pulls him up and they rush to the car and open the door. The windows are tinted so dark they seem a solid, opaque black.

Leo opens the door and climbs in, and Neymar follows. A familiar voice says from the drivers seat, "you guys barely made it, I was gonna leave in another five seconds, I was counting down." The driver throws new clothes at them. "Change into these once we get past the booth, and do it quickly."

"What the - Dani?" Neymar whispers, and Dani adjusts the mirror so Neymar can see his clear green eyes. He looks over at Leo as the car starts moving.

"Leo - what's going on?"

"I'll explain later - shh, don't talk..."

They pass the toll booth, Dani having a casual chat with the officer. He waves goodbye and rolls up the window and drives away, easy as that. Neymar doesn't know if this is another trap, but Leo is here and he trusts Leo - the only person in the world he trusts is Leo, but he's still so confused.

"What the fuck is going _on?_ " he demands, and Leo laughs out loud and kisses him, really kisses him, and after so long apart it feels amazing.

"Stop making out, you idiots, get out of your uniforms!" Dani says from the front seat, and Neymar can't help smiling. They both change into long-sleeve shirts and jeans. Neymar wants to kiss the wounds covering Leo's pale body.

Once they're finished, Leo asks, "Dani, you have our stuff, right?"

"Yeah, in backpacks in the trunk, the ID's and everything. You can take it out when we get to the airport."

"Airport?" Neymar asks, but he's starting to peice it all together and he can't stop smiling. "We're going? Leaving?"

"Yes!" Leo shows him the tickets that he'd taken from Gerard. "I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry, Ney. I promise, I'll never let anything bad happen to you ever again."

"Leo, I -"

"Hurry up," Dani says, slamming on the brake. They'd arrived at the airport, though Neymar can barely see through the heavily tinted windows. "Get your shit out of the car, I have an alibi to stick to. Oh, and Ney - gimme a call or something when you get there."

"I will," he says, getting out behind Leo. They find their backpacks in the trunk, and Dani's gone as soon as they close it. They hurry to their gate - the plane is boarding - and everything is happening so fast that Neymar has no idea what's going on. He's just holding Leo's hand and following his lead. The questions can wait.

They get on the plane with very convincing fake ID's. Neymar assumes that they were probably also provided by someone that Dani knows. They sit at the very back of the plane, but neither of them mind much. People stare at him and they stare at Leo, and he wonders why before he remembers that they're covered in cuts and bruises. He keeps his head down as he follows Leo to their seats.

Once they take off - and it's thrilling, of course, it gives both of them chills - he asks Leo, "what about Gerard?"

"Oh, so now you care?" Leo asks, and Neymar rolls his eyes. Leo continues, "he's a great guy. I'm gonna miss him. But I'll tell you the whole story later."

Neymar takes his hand as Leo rests his head on his shoulder. The plane enters the canopy of the clouds, and everything is misty and gray outside the tiny window. "What about our families?" Neymar asks.

"I don't know," Leo admits. He doesn't say that their families are probably so ashamed of them by now that they've most likely forgotten them, but they're both thinking it. Instead, Leo says, "I'm sure they'll understand...we're happier this way."

The plane breaks through the clouds into the clear night sky, bright with stars, more than they'd ever seen in their lives. Leo looks down at the clouds, packed tightly together over the city. He takes Neymar's hand and looks at him. The cuts across Leo's face look like the outlines of constellations and the bruises, different colours, blossoming across his face, resemble galaxies and nebulas; but his eyes are the same, unchanged, and as he looks at Neymar he sees an entire universe of love and opportunity ahead of him.

"You know," he says quietly, "we're running away, but...I feel like we're going home."

+

**{ten years later}**

The crash of the waves on the shore wakes him early. He shifts a little, still half-asleep, pressing against his husband behind him. He feels arms tighten around him and smiles.

"Good morning," he whispers.

"'Morning," is the sleepy reply. He laughs and turns around so that he's facing him, pressing a hand to his chest. Neymar smiles and leans in to kiss him, eyes closed. They kiss for so long it seems endless, and Leo doesn't even remember how he ends up underneath him, quiet moans slipping through his half-parted lips as Neymar's hands and mouth glide across his skin. 

Leo is so overwhelmed with the intense feeling of pleasure that comes when Neymar touches him this way that he feels like he's drowning in it. Their bodies move together so perfectly, like the ebb and flow of the ocean, a steady rhythm that slowly builds, higher and higher, silent encouragements giving way to whispered begging for release until both of them are flooded with that feeling of ecstasy, pure bliss washing over them in waves.

"I love you," Neymar pants into his mouth. Just the sound of his voice, quiet and heavy with passion, makes Leo moan again as he tries to catch his breath.

"I love you so much." He runs his fingers through Neymar's hair and smiles. Neymar presses his forehead to Leo's. Leo wraps his arms around Neymar's shoulders and pulls him down into his arms. He traces the scar shaped like a crescent moon that was carved into Neymar's beautiful caramel skin so long ago.

"It was worth it," Neymar says, as if he can read Leo's mind. At this point, Leo would be surprised if he couldn't.

"I know," Leo agrees. "I would go through it all again if it meant ending up with you."

"I promise you I won't let anything take you from me again." Leo tightens his arms around Neymar. He turns his head and kisses him on the cheek.

"Nothing will ever take me from you. I'm yours, forever."

The torture is over; the nightmares have gone. Leo holds in his arms the man who understands him better than he does himself, the one who has stood by him, who has fought for him, who he would die for. Leo holds in his arms his future, as vast and deep as the ocean itself, beginning and ending with Neymar.

Leo waits for Neymar's breathing to even out before he lets himself sleep again.

The sea air drifts in through the windows as they fall asleep, carrying with it the smell of salt and sand, and the sound of children laughing and seagulls crying out; and above all this is the steady crash of the waves, over and over against the shore, infinite.


End file.
